I. Panduranga Rao

Ilapavuluri Panduranga Rao (15 March 1930 – 25 December 2011) was an Indian scholar, poet, writer, linguist and orator of Telugu descent.

Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s call to bridge the many ‘divides’ in the Indian society, Rao decided to study Hindi language at Nagpur University.

Panduranga Rao's flair for poetry and penchant for popularizing ancient Hindu thought found its fullest expression in the 1970s and continued through the later years in Delhi.

The eldest son, I. V. Subba Rao joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1979 and later, in 2011, the United Nations; the second son, Raghunath, has been a senior executive with a number of Indian companies including Maruti and Tata Steel and currently works and lives in Chicago; the three daughters, Vangmayi, Anupa and Suvarna, are active home makers and proactive volunteers for social causes.

[1] Rao took voluntary retirement from the Government of India in 1986 and joined Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad, Kolkata,[2] a non-governmental cultural organization, as the Director.

[citation needed] Rao has contributed to the field of comparative studies and has referred to his translations as ‘trans-creations’.His translation of classics of Hindi poetry like Jay Shankar Prasad's ‘Kamayani’, ‘Aansu’ and Sumitranandan Pant's ‘Chidambara’, Malayalam litterateur, Thakazhi Siva Sankara Pillai's ‘Enippadikal’ enriched literary exchanges and appreciation of literature across Indian languages.

The head of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, one of the oldest Hindu monasteries established by Adi Sankara around 482 B.C., honoured him with the title of ‘Kavi Ratna’ (‘Gem among poets’).